1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic shooting mechanism and a robot having the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to an automatic shooting mechanism capable of remote switching and unmanned switching between a safety mode and a shooting mode, and remote shooting and unmanned shooting, and a sentry robot employing the automatic shooting mechanism and being capable of performing wide and narrow monitoring and sentry duties in short and long ranges and automatically shooting at a target.
2. Description of the Related Art
Intelligent robot technology is one of the next generation new technologies which will lead the 21st century's industrial and military science technologies with the development of artificial intelligence (AI). For example, a monitoring and sentry system can be a sophisticated system employing a variety of technologies such as ultra-low brightness camera technology, image recognition technology, image processing and storing technology, voice recognition technology, servo technology, image tracking technology, and system control technology.
As the security industry grows rapidly, demands for the use of intelligent monitoring and sentry robot systems in important national facilities such as airports, harbors, and nuclear power plants have increased accordingly. Such systems can be used in military settings to provide efficient sentries during peace time, and to improve the security of soldiers during war time by performing 3D (dangerous, dirty, dull) duties that are usually performed by soldiers. Accordingly, an unmanned robot employing AI technology can efficiently reduce manpower and greatly enhance a military's competitive power.
As can be appreciated from the above, a monitoring and sentry robot can perform an important role in the development of military strategy. Also, the use of robots can prevent or at least minimize fatigue and loss of concentration due to repetition of simple tasks performed by soldiers on sentry duty. Furthermore, the systems can have accurate tracking and instant reaction abilities, including high speed and accurate shooting capabilities.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,676 entitled “Fire Control System” discloses a shooting control system for a manually aimed gun. As described in the patent, a target is tracked by a video tracker and laser of an electro-optical device (EOD), and the distance and direction of the target are calculated. The image of target is sent to a video monitor of an operator, and the operator controls shooting at the target by controlling the gun to aim at the target through the use of the video monitor.
However, a drawback of this type of shooting control system is the limited range of monitoring by a camera device of the system. Also, the conventional monitoring and sentry system employing a single video camera or common monitoring camera is a basic system adopting the concept of automation, and not a system capable of intelligently recognizing a target and automatically tracking the target.
Also, in the conventional monitoring and sentry system, switching between a safety mode and a shooting mode is performed by a user. Thus, it would be desirable for the sentry system to employ a driving mechanism that can automatically switch between safety and shooting modes.